DL-984: Cost Effective Clinical Microbiology, 3 CE

James I. Mangels, MA, CLS, MT(ASCP) - Consultant - Microbiology Consulting Services Santa Rosa, CA Approved for 3.0 CE Level of Difficulty: Intermediate CAMLT is approved by the California Department of Public Health as a CA CLS Accrediting Agency (#21) It has been well known for some time that the United States spends more per capita on health care than other countries despite the spread of managed care, other changes to health care, such as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, or “Obamacare”, overall health care expenditures in the U.S. continue to increase to record levels. What may be less well know is that the United States has had one of the highest increases in per capita health care spending since 1980 among higher income countries. While spending more on health care, Americans had poorer health outcomes, shorter life expectancy and greater prevalence of chronic conditions compared to other higher income countries (1). Health care spending around the world generally is rising at a faster rate than overall economic growth, so almost all countries have seen health care spending increases as a percentage of their gross domestic product (GDP). In the United States, which has had both a high level of health spending per capita and a relatively high rate of real growth, the share of GDP devoted to health care grew from 8.8% of GDP in 1980 to 17.5% in 2015 (1). This 8.7% increase in health share of GDP is larger than increases seen in other high-income countries